Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to microprocessors.
Related Art
Conventional microprocessors can be implemented using multithreaded instruction execution to improve the overall performance and efficiency of the microprocessor. Conventional register approaches have registers assigned to each executing thread to support instruction execution.
Some types of instructions, e.g., Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) instructions require very large number of registers. Generally implemented as hardware features on the surface of the microprocessor, registers take up valuable space. As demand for smaller and more powerful microprocessors increases, space taken up by registers can decrease the efficiency of a microprocessor. This is especially evident with large SIMD registers, the bit-size of these registers requiring larger amounts of space than older, non-SIMD implementations.